SANTA CLARA For much of the season, the state of the 49ers’ defense could be summed up by two numbers. One varied from week to week, seemingly only growing larger with every passing injury. The other remained persistently, consistently the same. The number of All-Pro selections watching from the suite level of Levi’s Stadium was the same as it has been since Fred Warner joined Nick Bosa with season-ending injuries, but that other number, the one that was stuck at zero for seven weeks, has begun to budge in a big way the past two weeks. “We opened that can of worms, and now we’re just flying,” safety Malik Mustapha said after San Francisco’s win over the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football. “We’re dialed in. On a night where their own quarterback, Brock Purdy, tossed three before halftime, it was the two hauled in by Ji’Ayir Brown that will be remembered from the 20-9 win. “I always pride myself on being a ballhawk,” the third-year safety said. “It’s just been slow. Just keeping at it, keep going. Keep taking it game by game, waiting on your opportunity, I was able to capitalize.” It only took 12 weeks, but Brown didn’t have to wait long for his opportunity Monday night. After San Francisco marched down the field on a methodical scoring drive to open the game, Carolina quarterback Bryce Young had the Panthers on the verge of a touchdown to match. Purdy’s first interception gave Carolina the ball in San Francisco territory, and Mustapha made a touchdown-saving tackle at the 1-yard line when Young took off out of the pocket. One play later, Carolina walked away empty handed after Brown came down with Young’s pass intended for tight end Mitchell Evans in the back of the end zone. Linebacker Curtis Robinson, who made his first start, called Brown’s first interception “one of the bigger plays we’ve had this year, especially in the moment of the game that it came.” Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said the immediate response to Purdy’s pick was a “big statement” that changed the course of the game. “I was just so happy that he caught it, with just the lack of turnovers this year,” Lenoir said. Brown’s second pick of the evening sealed the win with 6: 33 left to play and the team leading 20-9. It also gave the 49ers a second takeaway for the second straight week, the first time they have strung together multiple games in a row with more than one turnover. “We knew it’s something that we were going to hone in on,” Mustapha said of the turnovers. “And now, you know, we got us a few more.” Last week, Lenoir and Mustapha each grabbed one interception in a 41-22 win at Arizona, but the defense still allowed second-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett to set an NFL record with 47 completions for 452 yards passing. They held the Panthers to 230 total yards, their best defensive showing since Week 1 in Seattle. Coach Kyle Shanahan believes the group is just beginning to hit its stride. “Ever since losing Fred and stuff, it’s been a bunch of young guys, guys who haven’t had their opps yet,” Shanahan said. “And I think each week you can feel them in practice get better and better. It’s not always that result on Sunday or on Monday, but today it was.” Injuries have forced players into unfamiliar roles, including Brown, who had to heal from ankle surgery during training camp and then win back his starting job. San Francisco was already without its leading linebacker, Warner, and was also missing his replacement, Tatum Bethune. That created the opportunity for Robinson to make his first NFL start in a full-circle moment. The Stanford product suffered a season-ending knee injury last year, according to Shanahan, no less than 20 minutes after he had been told he would get the chance to start the following week. Almost a year later, Robinson made one solo tackle and assisted on two others in his first NFL start. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced; it’s still hard to talk about,” Robinson said. “So to be able to come out healthy from this game and for it to have gone the way it went, I’m more grateful than I can even explain.”.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2025/11/24/jiayir-browns-interceptions-outweigh-brock-purdys-in-49ers-mnf-win/